This mixed martial arts fight will be the fight of the night without a doubt. Marcus "The Irish Hand Grenade" Davis (15-4) has lobbied and begged UFC matchmaker Joel Silva to stage a fight in his ancestral homeland of Ireland. The Davis’ are from Waterford, Ireland a place were Marcus promises to put on a good show against whomever would rise to this challenge. Chris "Lights Out" Lytle (26-16-5) has stepped up and now we are on.

Sports betting wise the odds are decent. If I were a sportsbook oddsmaker, I would have set the UFC lines a bit closer but Davis should be the betting favorite in this fight. At -135 the odds are still good enough to make a decent profit unlike other the Shogun/Coleman fight which is set at -370.

Davis and Lytle have always put on a great fight in the UFC regardless if they win or lose. Lytle has won fight of the night and submission of night in the UFC on numerous occasions while Davis has won fight of the night and submission of the night against Paul Taylor at UFC 75 in London, England. As both fighters have promised, we are definitely in store for a great night in the octagon. Both Davis and Lytle are very good strikers so whoever can out last the other through all the ground game will win. In terms of sports betting, a great prop bet would be a knockout by any of these fighters.

As both men said they would stand and bang with each other, Davis would win if this were in fact the case. I would have picked Lytle to win this fight since he has a better ground game than Davis but in this particular case I believe his pride will get the best of him. Lytle is a better all round fighter whose ground game has been greatly overlooked and if he were to take Davis to the ground, he would be able to submit the average gound game of Davis. Yes Davis currently has 8 wins by submission but if he were ever to face a real ground fighter, he would get bet. If this fight does go to the ground, Lytle will have the edge.

Though Lytle has lost to high quality opponents like Josh Koscheck at UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin, Thiago Alves at UFC 78: Validation, Matt Hughes at UFC 68: Uprising and Matt Serra at the Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale, Lytle remains the gate keeper of the UFC testing new and up and coming talent. As a very above average fighter, with more experience in doing battle with top level and top quality opponents, in the average fight I would pick Lytle to beat Davis, however, this is not just any fight--both men have already stated that they intend to stand up and put on a great show.

Marcus Davis has put his reputation on the line and been stating stating in the media that he will put on the fight of his life in Ireland. Lytle on the other hand will fight hard as that is what the UFC wants of him. For someone with as many losses as he has, he knows he is lucky to still be with the UFC proven by the fact that he always puts on a great effort and show for the fans. Win or lose he will continue to get paid. Nevertheless both men are fighting with a sembalnce of honour and will stand and bang with each other for the entire fight as promised.

In terms of striking, Chris "Lights Out" Lytle is a good technical striker with a 13 and 1 boxing record with 7 KO’s but his boxing career was more on the local level while Davis rallied his boxing into a career. Davis began boxing at 14, turning pro at the age of 19 and compiled a professional record of 17-1-2 over the next seven years on the New England circuit where he ranked number one super middleweight. Striking wise, Davis is more technical, has way more power and he as way better chin. If both fighters strike the entire fight, Davis is going to hurt and knock out Lytle who might be punch drunk from all his previous battles in the past.

Bottom Line: Without a doubt this will be the fight of the night and I predict a great standup fight. Marcus Davis has better intangibles coming into the fight and that will be the deciding factor. He has more power and better technical striking skill that will hurt Lytle whose has too much pride to change the game plan he already said he would fight—that will unfortunately be his down fall. For online sports bettors a great UFC prop bet is for Marcus Davis to stop Lytle by TKO.

Fight of the Night KO by Davis in the Second will make his Fellow Irish Countrymen Proud